21st Century Pub Signs

A proposal for an exhibition at The Shirker's Rest

“For hundreds of years, the public house has been a quintessential feature of British life. Hence the names and signs associated with pubs are a constant reminder of our history, cultural heritage and local identity.” The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pub Names

Sadly, we are now at a time when more pubs are closing than opening, and when new pubs do open, their names often reflect nostalgia or historical references rather than reflecting our contemporary society and culture (although thankfully not in the case of The Shirker's Rest).

This project asks 2 questions:

• What if our contemporary society opened pubs at the same rate as the Victorians?

• How might their names and signs reflect our culture?

Looking at historical examples across the U.K but especially London, this series of drawings updates ubiquitous and obscure examples of pub names, and imagines the answers to these questions with wry humour, illustration and typography.

Below, you can see 6 examples of these illustrated signs which are all drawn digitally, and can be printed at up to A3 size, but can also be printed at different sizes to fit specific spaces or limitations if you were interested in showing them. These 6 have been selected from a list of about 30 so far, but this is very much an ongoing project…….